There are different types of metal gutter covers, including solid metal covers made from sheet metal punched or slit at desired locations to form drain holes, and expanded metal covers made from sheet metal expanded to form an open mesh of strands defining the drain holes.
It is conventional to make solid metal gutter covers of different colors, e.g., colors selected to match the colors of the gutters on which the covers are to be installed. Typically, a coating of selected color is applied to a strip of sheet aluminum at the mill. The strip is then wound into a coil and shipped to a location for manufacture of the solid metal gutter covers. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional method of making solid gutter covers from a color-coated strip of sheet aluminum. In this method, a coil 20 of the color-coated sheet metal having a width W1 is used to make finished gutter covers 22 having a length L1. The process involves feeding a strip 24 of sheet metal from the coil along a path to a punching or slitting mechanism 26 which forms drain holes 28 in the strip; then to a bending (e.g., roll-forming) mechanism 34 which bends the perforated strip to have the desired gutter cover contour; and then to a shearing mechanism 40 which cuts the contoured and perforated strip into individual covers 22 of desired length. The finished covers 22 have a width substantially equal to or somewhat less than the width W1 of the coil 20 due to the roll-forming step in the above process. The resulting color-coated solid metal gutter covers 22 are then distributed for installation.
On the other hand, gutter covers of expanded metal are not made of different colors. In this regard, FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional process for making such covers. In this process a coil 50 of sheet steel having a width W2 is used to make finished gutter covers 52 having a length L2 substantially equal to the coil width W2. The sheet steel is typically galvanized steel with no color-coating. The process involves an expanding mechanism 54 which expands sheet steel unwound from the coil to form a continuous strip 56 of expanded metal. One such conventional expanding mechanism is available from Wanzhi Wire Mesh Machine (Shenzhen) Ltd. in Shenzhen City of Guangdong Province, China, Model 1500 mm. The mechanism 54 expands (stretches) the sheet metal in a direction extending lengthwise of the strip 56 to form an open mesh of strands 58 (see FIG. 2A) defining diamond-shaped openings 60 each of which has a long axis dimension LD extending widthwise of the strip 56 and a short axis dimension SD extending lengthwise of the strip 56. The formation of these strands 58 exposes large areas of bare (uncoated) steel which necessitates a later coating of a suitable rust-inhibitor. After the expansion step, the continuous strip 56 is fed to a shearing mechanism 64 which cuts the strip 56 into individual strips 66 having length L2. The individual strips 66 are transported to a roll forming mechanism 68 where they are fed lengthwise into the mechanism and bent to form uncoated gutter covers 70 of desired contour. In a final step, the covers 70 are delivered to a powder-coating station 72 where they are powder coated to inhibit rust. The powder coating is usually black in color. While coatings of different colors could be applied to different covers, this would require separate powder-coating facilities, one for each color, which would be very expensive.
FIG. 3 illustrates a traditional process for making expanded metal gutter covers from sheet aluminum. In this process, a coil 80 of uncoated sheet aluminum having a width W3 is used to make finished gutter covers 82. In the process of FIG. 3, an expanding mechanism 84 expands sheet aluminum from the coil 80 to form a continuous strip 86 of expanded metal. An exemplary expanding mechanism is the one described above for use in making expanded steel covers. The mechanism 84 expands (stretches) the sheet aluminum in a direction extending lengthwise of the strip 86 to form a mesh of strands 88 (see FIG. 3A) defining diamond-shaped openings 90 each of which has a long axis dimension LD extending widthwise of the strip 86 and a short axis dimension SD extending lengthwise of the strip 86. After the expansion step, the continuous strip 86 is fed to a roll-forming mechanism 92 which bends the strip 80 to form a continuous contoured strip 96 having the desired gutter cover contour, and to a shearing mechanism 94 for cutting the contoured strip 96 into the individual covers 82 of desired length L3. The finished covers 82 have a width substantially equal to or somewhat less than the width W3 of the coil 20 due to the roll-forming step in the above process. The finished covers 82 are typically of bare metal and not color-coated.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an efficient and economical way to make expanded metal gutter covers (e.g., of aluminum or steel) which can be efficiently and economically manufactured in different colors selected, for example, to match the gutters on which they are to be installed.